The Satyricon of Petronius ArbiterPetronius Arbiter
General
The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter
Petronius Arbiter
Rome -- Fiction; Satire, Latin -- Translations into English
"And that I may receive no injury after I am dead, I'll have a codicil
annext to my will, whereby I'll appoint one of my freed-men the keeper
of this monument, that the people make not a house-of-office of it.
Make me also, I beseech you, on this my monument, ships under full
sail, and my self in my robes sitting on the bench, with five gold
rings on my fingers, and scattering moneys among the common people;
for you know I have ordered ye a funeral feast, and two-pence a-piece
in money. You shall also, if you think fit, shape me some of these
beds we now sit on, and all the people making their court to me. On
my right hand place my Fortunata's statue, with a dove in one hand,
and leading a little dog in her girdle with the other: As also my
Cicero, and large wine vessels close cork'd that the wine don't run
out, and yet carve one of them as broken, and a boy weeping over it;
as also a sun-dial in the middle, that whoever comes to see
what's-a-clock, may read my name whether he will or no. And lastly,
have a special consideration whether you think this epitaph sufficient
enough:
'HERE RESTS CAIUS POMPEIUS TRIMALCHIO, PATRON OF THE LEARNED. A TROOP
OF HORSE WAS DECREED HIM, WITHOUT SUING FOR, AND MIGHT HAVE BEEN A
SENATOR WOULD HE HAVE ACCEPTED IT. A PIOUS MAN, HONEST, VALIANT, AND
TRUE TO HIS FRIEND. HE RAISED HIMSELF FROM LITTLE OR NOTHING, BUT
LEFT BEHIND HIM A PRODIGIOUS ESTATE, YET NEVER HEARD A PHILOSOPHER.
FAREWELL TO YOU ALSO.'"
This said, Trimalchio wept plentifully, Fortunata wept, Habinas wept,
and the whole family set up a cry as it had been his funeral; nay, I
also whin'd for company: when, quoth Trimalchio, "Since you know we
must die, why don't we live while we may? so let me live my self to
see you happy; as, if we plunge our selves in the bath we shall not
repent it: At my peril be it; I'll lead the way, for this room is
grown as hot as an oven." "Say you so," quoth Habinas, "nor am I
afraid to make two days of one"; and therewith got up barefoot and
follow'd Trimalchio.
I on the other hand turning to Ascyltos, asked him what he thought of
it, for "if I but see the bath I shall swoon away."
"Let's lagg behind then," said he, "and whilst they are getting in,
we'll slip off in the crowd."
The contrivance pleased us; and so Gito leading the way through the
portico, we came to the last gate, where a chained dog bolted upon us
so furiously, that Ascyltos fell into the fishpond. I, who had been
frighted at the painted dog, and now gotten as drunk as Ascyltos,
while I endeavoured to get hold of him, fell in my self; at last the
porter's coming in saved us, for he quieted the dog and drew us out;
but Gito, like a sharp rascal, delivered himself, for whatever had
been given him at supper to carry home with him, he threw it the dog,
and that mollified him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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